Worker gangs, armies, traits, and abilities

[Ivan the Kulak]

One of the more obvious improvements would be to be able to lock workers together into a group in order to move them about and order them to complete tasks quickly, been suggested before. This got me thinking, along with the suggestions in the new GL thread. It might also be nice to have a type of leader spawn that could produce a worker army, that would double the speed of the combined workers in it. Such an army would be able to chop down jungle and RR mountains at an extraordinary rate of speed. This type of leader would have the chance of spawning once you discovered a new tech, like Unionization or Labor Union, which might also give a new improvement like Union Hall. It could be used to build worker armies, or rush small industrial wonders like Iron Works, or (hypothetical) National Refinery or other small wonders that might be included. Or, you might be able to build a GW that spawns such a leader/army every 20 turns.

Another thing that might be interesting is to have workers be able to perform certain tasks more quickly according to civ traits. Industrial workers might be able to mine hills and mountains more quickly, while Commercial and Expansionist civs could road more quickly, and Agricultural civs could irrigate better and chop down jungle faster than other civs.

If the civics model works as some think it will in civ4, it might be possible to implement a system in which worker ability to get different tasks done faster is based on the various settings which the player chooses for goverment type, thus, by adopting a less warlike and more builder oriented government the player gains the ability to improve territory more quickly, and terrain considerations might make this an attractive choice. If, for example, you adopt a form of government in which the army receives less free support and perhaps fewer combat bonuses, and in exchange you gain the ability to have 2-move workers that can chop down jungle twice as fast, wouldn't that be an option you might find useful, if you have several cities you built hastily during your expansion phase that are surrounded by jungle?

There could be a lot more depth to this, depending on the number of new tile improvements we have to build in civ4, and the government system that is ultimately settled upon.

 

[cpikey316_]

What could be more fun is if captured workers kept the bonuses.So if a expansionist worker was captured, it would be able to build roads quicker than your own workers.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

That would be nice too. It would be interesting also if the cultural infiltration discussed in another thread were implemented so you would have foreign citizens moving into your border cities. You would then get a chance of building a worker with those civ traits, would be useful.

I always wondered, when a civ switches to Fascism, where do all those "resettled" citizens go? I don't think they all get sent to camps and gassed, though they disappear into thin air. I would like to see some of these expelled citizens appear in the cities of a neighboring civ automatically, this would be an interesting feature as well. Some could appear on your tiles as workers also, full capability, needing support.

 

[sengfossil]

hallo,

I totally agree with the posts above, especially the capability to group workers for actions is highly missed.

additionally I would suggest that captured workers after one generation (f.e. 50 years) become real workers. It looks very unreal to have in modern times workers still in "slaves" outfit.

 

[Spatula]

I agree with everything above, although I have only skim-read it

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

sengfill, I agree that it's a good idea to have slave workers become citizen workers after time, maybe several turns later though. This represents the idea that immigrants who are captured/conscripted are exploited and paid slave wages at first, but over time they assimilate, develop skills/education and better pay, thus you pay support for them.

I would like a different graphic for slave workers in modern times also. I would like some better workers available in modern times also, a la the engineers in civ2, cost more, have 2 or 3 move points, maybe use little bulldozers and tractors while they are working.

 

[Spatula]

Slave labour - if Civ were real life, then half of my neighbourhood would still be classed as 'slaves'. It's only a minor point but would it really be that difficult to make it that a 'slave' becomes a citizen after a set amount of turns?

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I still reckon that a national labour pool would be the best way to reduce, if not eliminate, MM associated with workers, whilst still retaining their BEST elements (such as an ability to capture foreign workers and the like). In my system, you still build workers, but they go into a central 'labour' pool. Then, when you select an infrastructure project, you will get the chance to decide how many workers and/or slaves you wish to assign to said project (which, in turn, will determine how fast it is done). Optionally, the distance between the capital and your infrastructure project could determine how long a lag there is between assigning workers, and having said workers arrive (the task begins immediately, but the worker effects might take 1-2 turns to materialise) In your 'labour management screen' you can see all the 'worker/slave' units you have, where they originally came from, and how much you wish to feed and pay them. In this screen, you could also reattach a worker/slave to a city, trade workers/slaves to other nations, 'sacrifice' a slave unit for shields or 'free' a slave unit-which then goes into your worker pool. Every slave 'unit' you possess will also provide a certain bonus to wealth and production to every city which builds a 'slave labour market' (or to ALL cities if you have the 'Slave Labour System' Small Wonder).
I just figure that, given how they abstracted both trade and espionage between civ2 and civ3, it just makes sense to extend that abstraction process to workers in the transition from civ3 to civ4.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[skylined]

Aussie_Lurker
Perfect idea!

 

[dh_epic]

This is yet another solidarity post dedicated to Aussie Lurker.